Exploring mental representations of home
energy practices and habitual energy
consuming behaviours.
Elizabeth Gabe-Thomas, Ian Walker & Bas Verplanken
ENLITEN
Energy Literacy Through an Intelligent
Home Energy Advisor
Household energy use:
Exploring how people think and behave
Elizabeth Gabe-Thomas, Ian Walker & Bas Verplanken
ENLITEN
Energy Literacy Through an Intelligent
Home Energy Advisor
ENLITEN
To reduce carbon emissions from energy use in
dwellings through the development of a low
cost, intelligent home energy ‘advisor’, which
will provide actionable energy-related advice
prompts to households.
ENLITEN
Sensor Data
• Environmental
conditions
• Occupancy patterns
• Energy behaviours
• Thermal properties
• Energy consumption
Occupant data
• Attitudes and values
• Energy habits and
practices
• Household dynamics
• Attitudes and values
• Energy literacy
• Energy perceptions and
mental models
Direct Domestic Energy Consumption:
• Many different behaviours
• Each behaviour a chain of decisions
• Most interventions do not take this into
account
• Need a better understanding of how people
understand energy and what might motivate
each behaviour
Mental Models
• Mental models embody a person’s assumptions
about the world (Aitchison, 1994)
• People use categorisation to make sense of the world
around them (Smith & Miler, 1981)
• Card sorting is an ideal method of exploring the
cognitive structures that arise during concept
formation (Barnett, 2004).
Method
44 cards
‘things that use energy around
the home’
“Sort into piles according to
however you feel they
naturally go together”
N= 57 (32 females, 25 males)
Mean Age= 41.63 (SD=23.10)
Cluster analysis
Energy Items
Dendrogram illustrating the squared Euclidean distances of clusters revealed using ward’s method
Energy Items
Dendrogram illustrating the squared Euclidean distances of clusters revealed using ward’s method
Energy Items
Dendrogram illustrating the squared Euclidean distances of clusters revealed using ward’s method
Everything else
Kitchen
Entertainment
Everything else
Entertainment
Kitchen
Everything else
White goods
Bathroom
Entertainment
Kitchen
• Poor mental models of energy use
Consistent with previous research (e.g. Darby, 2006).
• People do consistently mentally represent
entertainment and kitchen energy use
Parallels with social practice theory (e.g. Shove, 2003).
Influences of domestic energy
behaviours
• ENLITEN
Lights
household survey Washing machine
Hairdryer
wave 1
Demographics
• N= 45
• Mean Age= 51
• 66% female
/hairstyling
appliance
Tumble dryer
Heating system
Iron
Vacuum cleaner
Shower
Bath
Dish washer
Microwave
Toaster
Cooking hobs
Oven
Kettle
Television
Computer or
Laptop
Computer games
console
Radio
Stereo system/HiFi
Variable
Habit
Measure
Self Report Habit Index
shortened version – 6 items
Verplanken & Orbell (2003)
Perceived
Behavioural
Control
“It’s up to me when & how I use....”
Response
5 point scale
Strongly Agree to
Strongly Disagree
Strongly Agree to
Strongly Disagree
Social Norms
Injunctive
“Most people would say I should use ….
less ”
Descriptive
“Compared to you, how often do you
think other people use…?”
Attitudes
Semantic differential scale
Strongly Agree to
Strongly Disagree
Much less often than me to
Much more often to me
Pleasant – Unpleasant
Enjoyable – Unenjoyable
Necessary – Unnecessary
Useful – Useless
5.0
Cluster 1
4.5
• Most habitual
• Most useful and
essential
• Not particularly
pleasant enjoyable
4.0
3.5
Mean Score
Kettle
Lights
Washing machine
Hairstyling appliance
Oven
Vacuum cleaner
Cooking hobs
3.0
2.5
Cluster 1
2.0
Cluster 2
1.5
Cluster 4
Cluster 3
Cluster 5
1.0
0.5
0.0
Measure
5.0
Cluster 2
4.5
• Second most
habitual
• More pleasant and
enjoyable
• Relatively necessary
4.0
3.5
Mean Score
Television
Computer or Laptop
Heating system
Shower
Dish washer
3.0
2.5
Cluster 1
2.0
Cluster 2
1.5
Cluster 4
Cluster 3
Cluster 5
1.0
0.5
0.0
Measure
5.0
Cluster 3
4.5
Microwave
Toaster
Tumble dryer
3.5
Mean Score
• Lower habits
• Not particularly
pleasant or
enjoyable
• Fairly useful but not
particularly
necessary
4.0
3.0
2.5
Cluster 1
2.0
Cluster 2
1.5
Cluster 4
Cluster 3
Cluster 5
1.0
0.5
0.0
Measure
5.0
Cluster 4
4.5
• Low habits
• Considered
pleasant and
enjoyable
• Not particularly
useful
• Least necessary
4.0
3.5
Mean Score
Computer games
console
Stereo system or HiFi
Radio
Bath
3.0
2.5
Cluster 1
2.0
Cluster 2
1.5
Cluster 4
Cluster 3
Cluster 5
1.0
0.5
0.0
Measure
5.0
Cluster 5
4.5
Ironing!
4.0
• Low habits
• Least pleasant and
enjoyable
• Fairly useful and
necessary
Mean Score
3.5
3.0
2.5
Cluster 1
2.0
Cluster 2
1.5
Cluster 4
Cluster 3
Cluster 5
1.0
0.5
0.0
Measure
5.0
Some observations
4.5
• Very high perceived
behavioural control
– reactance?
• 1 & 2 need different
intervention to 3, 4
&5
3.5
Mean Score
• Little variation in
social norms – false
consensus effect?
4.0
3.0
2.5
Cluster 1
2.0
Cluster 2
1.5
Cluster 4
Cluster 3
Cluster 5
1.0
0.5
0.0
Measure
Implications
• People think about energy use in terms of
social practices
• Energy behaviours differ on psychological
dimensions but can be clustered together
• This can inform the design of feedback which
is meaningful, tailored & feasible(e.g. Steg &
Abrahamse, 2010)
Thank you for your attention!
Elizabeth Gabe-Thomas, Ian Walker & Bas Verplanken
http://www.cs.bath.ac.uk/enliten